Bray decision will cut down future demand

AN eight-classroom primary school is to be build in Bray, in the Woodbrook/Shanganagh area.

The Department of Education has not announced an exact site for the school but said that the facility is expected to open in 2021.

As with other schools in the recently announced list, a patronage process will get under way, possibly next year.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown has land zoned in the area for housing, with a dart station and, in the future, possibly a Luas link planned for the area.

Cllr Joe Behan said that, in terms of national school places, Bray is not under major pressure, as in the Greystones and Kilcoole areas, and that the future development plans for the area are likely the reason for the new eight classrooms.

Any future development at Old Fassaroe would include its own school development.

Parents will be invited to express their preference for a patron body.

‘A key determinant of the successful patron is the preferences of parents of pre-school children in that area,’ said Minister Simon Harris. He said that the new online system ‘will allow for more efficient collection and processing of parental preferences.’

Elsewhere in Bray, Ravenswell Primary School and Colaiste Raithin secondary school have yet to move into their new buildings on the golf club lands due to delays following the collapse of construction firm Carillion.

Meanwhile, a third school, North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School, remains in a temporary building on the Putland Road, having opened in September 2016. Principal Jonathan Browner said that they have met with the Wicklow TDs and have asked their patron to pursue the issue vigorously, but the Department of Education has yet to give them any further details on where their site will be and when to expect construction.